The breast cancer drug, Avastin, has a recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration to be pulled. The first clinical trial of the drug showed optimistic results although another round of testing shows no effect on breast cancer. The FDA hasn’t explained if the drug is going to be disapproved yet or not. Roche, which manufactures the drug, might lose a lot if the FDA pulls the drug.
Avastin sells easily
Avastin is the name of Bevacizumab which is a cancer med. Blood vessels no longer grow with what can also be called an angiogenesis inhibitor. The hormone vascular endothelial is stopped from producing and blood vessels can grow no longer. The Los Angeles Times, reports the drug was approved in 2008 by the FDA as long as more studies were done to prove it works. Roche and its subsidiary Genentech, which makes the drug, have failed to prove in a second round of trials that Avastin is certainly effective in eliminating or stopping breast cancer. The drug sells about $ 6 billion worth annually, and up to $ 1 billion of that is for breast cancer patients.
Roche feels side effects
Market Watch reports that Genentech, Roche Holding Inc., dropped 4.1 percent within the stock market following the recommendation came from the FDA group. Accutane , a medication used to treat acne manufactured by the company, has just had a significant lawsuit against it also. Even if it doesn’t help breast cancer specifically, it has helped numerous other cancers.
Drug will continue
It is hard to make a drug that actually works, especially for cancer. A cure for cancer might be within the distant future. Even if the FDA no longer approves Avastin, it will nevertheless sell, just less.
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Los Angeles Times
latimes.com/news/health/sns-health-avastin-breast-cancer,0,2730048.story
Market Watch
marketwatch.com/story/roche-shares-drop-after-fda-ruling-on-avastin-2010-07-21
Bevacizumab
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevacizumab
